Merilineth woke up to the sun in her eyes, a full stomach, a dead body, her arm wrapped up in the dirty blood soaked bandages she didn't remember putting on, and about seven Whiterun guards with weapons drawn.
"Stop right there monster! We have you surrounded so stay right where you are!" The guard that spoke already had an arrow drawn and two others were getting ready to do the same. Realizing her situation would probably only get worse if she tried to resist, Merilineth decided to stay put and wait until they brought her to the prison, then make her escape. A large man in a full suit of iron armor made his way over to where the guard who spoke first stood.
"What do you have to report soldier?" Spoke the Nord in iron.
"Brenuin came to us about an hour ago sir, said a man was torn apart and that the killer was sleeping a few feet away from the body. We thought he was drunk so no one took it to seriously, but later when we went to investigate we found out he was telling the truth"
The armored man looked at the body and then at Merilineth, "She did this?"
"Aye sir, at least we think so. She was sleeping near the body and she's covered in blood."
"Hmmmm."
"Should we bring her to Dragonsreach Sinmir?" The Nord Sinmir looked at her with disgust. "No, I don't know if your some kind of werewolf or vampire but I'm not going to take any risks. I say we just kill her and put an end to these murders for good."
This suggestion seemed like a goo idea to many of the guards who either nodded or gave a grunt of approval. To Merilineth however this was worst case scenario. She wasn't sure if she could take on eight armed guards, all much bigger than her, or even be able to move before they could fire their arrows from already drawn bows. However, she always had that. She reached for her left arm, ready to remove her wrappings. She just hoped the shock would stall the guards long enough for her to run through them.
Before anyone could make a move though, someone shouted out, "What in oblivion is going on here?" Looking past Sinmir Merilineth could see a woman wearing black leather armor combined with red fabric, with a black hood and short cloak obscuring her face. But she could make out some locks of long black hair that hung out from the hood.
"This doesn't concern you citizen, turn around now and we won't arrest you for preventing justice from being carried out." said the captain of the guard.
"Justice? Since when is executing an unarmed young Bosmer girl considered justice Sinmir?" Spoke the woman who pulled back her hood so that they could see her face.
As she pulled of the hood a strong breeze blew past them causing the woman's thick raven hair to almost come alive and make her look incredibly heroic. She was beautiful, Her face and skin were pale smooth. The mysterious woman's lips were a lovely shade of red and her eyes glowing yellow orange with long black eyelashes. Apparently Sinmir and the others knew the enchanting Nord woman, because their eyes looked like they were about to fly out of their head.
"Lady Serana I'm sorry, I-I had no idea it was you!" Sinmir squeaked, his deep voice now sounding much like a mouse chased by a cat. He quickly clear his throat and spoke again, his voice now much deeper than it was before Serana had shown up. "Well you see, this young lady is responsible for the recent murders that have been occurring throughout the hold."
The wind had died out and Serana pushed her hair from her face and then folded her arms. "Just who told you that may I ask?"
"Uh, it was Brenuin milady."
"and you believed him?
"Well...yes. She was passed out next to the victim and her body is soaked in blood."
Serana walked over to the remnants of the Nord that had attacked Merilineth and crouched down to examine it. After about a minute she stood up again, this time holding the same hunting knife that had been used to threaten the young wood elf, with the arm still attached to it.
"Commander Sinmir could you please come look at the body?" Sinmir nodded and reluctantly walked over to to the corpse. Serana asked, "What do you notice about it?"
"Er..well it looks like it was eaten and um...his arm was torn off."
"Yes exactly, not only that but doesn't this knife look like the one described in the report on the recent murders?" Sinmir nodded his head slowly, starting to realize what Serana was implying.
"Now if the murder weapon was being held by this man, and not that young girl over there, that would mean...?" Serana looked at the captain waiting for him to finish the sentence. Slowly the confused look on his face turned to one of realization and he said, "It means that she isn't the killer and...that...we..."
"Almost killed an innocent woman for a crime she didn't commit."
The faces of the guards were filled with shame, while Merilineth was relieved to be clear of suspicion. Until one the guards asked, "Well if she wasn't the killer then how did his body wind up like this?" She looked to the woman named Serana, wondering if she had figured it out. The woman was clearly smarter than just about every Nord Merilineth had ever met, but the woman simply shrugged and then stared deeply into Sinmir's eyes. "That doesn't matter to you anymore, when you got here the body was burned to a crisp, the case of the Whiterun murders is closed and you are glad there were no further victims."
Sinmir and the guards all nodded, the eyes looked glazed and dopey smiles were on each of their faces. "Of course, I'm just glad no one else got hurt." Sinmir turned to Merilineth and offered her a hand. "Are you all right miss? This is no place for a young girl like you. Would you like to go to the healer at the temple?"
Of course she didn't want to go to the temple, so she shook her head and stood on her own. "Thank you but I'll be fine, you've been very helpful sir." This was obviously a lie, the guards had been about as helpful as a wooden sword in a fight with a giant. However, Serana had done something that added an extra dose of stupid to their brains so Sinmir took it as praise and his silly grin grew even bigger and he and his men began to put away their weapons and drag the body away.
Merilineth turned to go too, but was stopped when Serana took her by the arm and began walking towards a house next to the blacksmith's shop.
"Well thank you for all of your help but I had best be off now so bye now!" but she could free herself from the Nord's grip. Despite her thin figure Serana had a grip like a dragon's maw, not that Merilineth had even been held in the mouth of a dragon, or even seen one. "Oh no, you owe me for that. I want answers, but first you need a bath. You reek and I doubt you'll get far looking like that." Serana pulled out a key and opened the door pushing Merilineth through and then locking the door behind them. Merilineth didn't really care though, she was really looking forward to a bath.
